Rend Your Heart

12 “Even now,” declares the Lord,
    “return(A) to me with all your heart,(B)
    with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

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But you must return(A) to your God;
    maintain love and justice,(B)
    and wait for your God always.(C)

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“If you, Israel, will return,(A)
    then return to me,”
declares the Lord.
“If you put your detestable idols(B) out of my sight
    and no longer go astray,

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Seek(A) the Lord while he may be found;(B)
    call(C) on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake(D) their ways
    and the unrighteous their thoughts.(E)
Let them turn(F) to the Lord, and he will have mercy(G) on them,
    and to our God, for he will freely pardon.(H)

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Come near to God and he will come near to you.(A) Wash your hands,(B) you sinners, and purify your hearts,(C) you double-minded.(D) Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.(E)

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13 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain,(A) or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14 if my people, who are called by my name,(B) will humble(C) themselves and pray and seek my face(D) and turn(E) from their wicked ways, then I will hear(F) from heaven, and I will forgive(G) their sin and will heal(H) their land.

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The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.(A)

When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.(B) This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh:

“By the decree of the king and his nobles:

Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink.(C) But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call(D) urgently on God. Let them give up(E) their evil ways(F) and their violence.(G)

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29 But if from there you seek(A) the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart(B) and with all your soul.(C) 30 When you are in distress(D) and all these things have happened to you, then in later days(E) you will return(F) to the Lord your God and obey him.

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20 First to those in Damascus,(A) then to those in Jerusalem(B) and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles,(C) I preached that they should repent(D) and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds.(E)

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Therefore tell the people: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Return(A) to me,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,’(B) says the Lord Almighty. Do not be like your ancestors,(C) to whom the earlier prophets(D) proclaimed: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Turn from your evil ways(E) and your evil practices.’ But they would not listen or pay attention to me,(F) declares the Lord.(G)

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12 Then you will call(A) on me and come and pray(B) to me, and I will listen(C) to you. 13 You will seek(D) me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.(E)

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When they had assembled at Mizpah,(A) they drew water and poured(B) it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.” Now Samuel was serving as leader[a](C) of Israel at Mizpah.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 7:6 Traditionally judge; also in verse 15

Israel Unrepentant

“Come, let us return(A) to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces(B)
    but he will heal us;(C)
he has injured us
    but he will bind up our wounds.(D)

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40 Let us examine our ways and test them,(A)
    and let us return to the Lord.(B)
41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
    to God in heaven,(C) and say:

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So Samuel said to all the Israelites, “If you are returning(A) to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid(B) yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths(C) and commit(D) yourselves to the Lord and serve him only,(E) and he will deliver(F) you out of the hand of the Philistines.”

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Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast(A) for all Judah. The people of Judah(B) came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him.

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by asking the priests of the house of the Lord Almighty and the prophets, “Should I mourn(A) and fast in the fifth(B) month, as I have done for so many years?”

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12 The Lord, the Lord Almighty,
    called you on that day(A)
to weep(B) and to wail,
    to tear out your hair(C) and put on sackcloth.(D)

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The Israelites Confess Their Sins

On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads.(A) Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners.(B) They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors.(C)

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26 Then all the Israelites, the whole army, went up to Bethel, and there they sat weeping before the Lord.(A) They fasted(B) that day until evening and presented burnt offerings(C) and fellowship offerings(D) to the Lord.(E)

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Repentance to Bring Blessing

14 [a]Return,(A) Israel, to the Lord your God.
    Your sins(B) have been your downfall!(C)

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 14:1 In Hebrew texts 14:1-9 is numbered 14:2-10.

38 and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity where they were taken, and pray toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and toward the temple I have built for your Name; 39 then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their pleas, and uphold their cause. And forgive(A) your people, who have sinned against you.

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47 and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead(A) with you in the land of their captors and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly’;(B) 48 and if they turn back(C) to you with all their heart(D) and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray(E) to you toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and the temple(F) I have built for your Name;(G) 49 then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.

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Mourning for the One They Pierced

10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit[a](A) of grace and supplication.(B) They will look on[b] me, the one they have pierced,(C) and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child,(D) and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.(E) 11 On that day the weeping(F) in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.(G) 12 The land will mourn,(H) each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, 13 the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, 14 and all the rest of the clans and their wives.(I)

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Footnotes

  1. Zechariah 12:10 Or the Spirit
  2. Zechariah 12:10 Or to

“Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted(A) and mourned in the fifth and seventh(B) months for the past seventy years,(C) was it really for me that you fasted?

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